We have no control over the way someone treats us except perhaps to distance ourselves from them. We do, however, have control over how we respond to them. It might not seem like this is true because we have been programmed to respond in certain ways, but we do have the ability to change that programming and respond differently. Deprogramming and programming new ways of behavior take time and often concerted effort, but if we want to live with less stress in our lives we can learn to control how we react to negative behavior, words, and people.